What is it, in summary?: What Happens Next is a psychological thriller/horror comic with an ensemble cast of characters, most of whom are simultaneously awful and sympathetic.
8 years ago, teenager Haylie Gorski was murdered by two of her friends. Milo Holliday was charged as an accomplice to her murder and has recently been let go on parole. He also came out as trans in the interim, which the internet was extremely normal about, which is a problem for him, because he spends a lot of his time on tumblr.
The comic follows it's cast of characters as they make their way through the aftermath of that death, nearly a decade later. The question that drives the comic is also it's title: what happens next?
What do you love about it?: I love all the character work in this. Most of the characters these characters suck as people, in one way or another, but the narrative really digs down into why they are like that and you often can't help but sympathise even as they are ruining their own lives and also other people's.
Also, there is nothing else I've seen that has quite the atmosphere of building dread the What Happens Next has. It is amazing horror, where the true terror is trying to work out what awful decision the characters make next and how deep down is rock bottom going to be.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: My favourite characters are Audrey and Vikki and I will likely be requesting them.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: This comic does work best if you have the whole context of what's going on, but you could probably follow Audrey's story through the Victim Impact Statement arc.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There are content warnings on the first panel of each arc, but collecting them all together for convenience: violence and gore, child death, transphobia, misgendering, ableism, self harm, suicide, abuse, sexual assault, substance abuse,
What Happens Next
Title: What Happens Next
Media: Webcomic
Approx length: 1000 panels
Where to find it: Link to the first comic
What is it, in summary?: What Happens Next is a psychological thriller/horror comic with an ensemble cast of characters, most of whom are simultaneously awful and sympathetic.
8 years ago, teenager Haylie Gorski was murdered by two of her friends. Milo Holliday was charged as an accomplice to her murder and has recently been let go on parole. He also came out as trans in the interim, which the internet was extremely normal about, which is a problem for him, because he spends a lot of his time on tumblr.
The comic follows it's cast of characters as they make their way through the aftermath of that death, nearly a decade later. The question that drives the comic is also it's title: what happens next?
What do you love about it?: I love all the character work in this. Most of the characters these characters suck as people, in one way or another, but the narrative really digs down into why they are like that and you often can't help but sympathise even as they are ruining their own lives and also other people's.
Also, there is nothing else I've seen that has quite the atmosphere of building dread the What Happens Next has. It is amazing horror, where the true terror is trying to work out what awful decision the characters make next and how deep down is rock bottom going to be.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: My favourite characters are Audrey and Vikki and I will likely be requesting them.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: This comic does work best if you have the whole context of what's going on, but you could probably follow Audrey's story through the Victim Impact Statement arc.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There are content warnings on the first panel of each arc, but collecting them all together for convenience:
violence and gore, child death, transphobia, misgendering, ableism, self harm, suicide, abuse, sexual assault, substance abuse,